Improvement in type-setting machines



2Sheet-s--Sheetl. A. MILLAB. Type-Setting Machine.

No. 168,044. PatentedSdpt. 21,1875.

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Kid/was 2Sheets--Sheet 2." I A. M l LLAR. Type-Setting Machine.

Patented Sept. 21,1875.

ATENT OFFICE...

ADAM MILLAR, OF HOLBORN, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TYPE-SETTING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 168,044, dated September 21,1875; application filed November 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADAM MILLAR, of 9 Brooke street, Holborn, in the county of Middlesex, England, mechanician, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Oomposing Type, of which the following is a specification:

In order that my improved apparatus or composing-machine may be in a compact form and simple in its mechanism, according to my improvements I limit the compass of the composing apparatus or machine to the letters of one alphabet only, with the proper complement of spaces and marks of punctuation say, forty characters, or thereabout.

The apparatus or machine is so arranged that letters other than those selected by the machine may be selected by the operator from ordinary type-cases placed or arranged adja cent to the machine, such additional or independent types being introduced from time to time by the operator, and passed through the machine or apparatus in the order in which they occur in the copy to be set up;

And in order that my improvements may be clearly understood and readily carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the drawings of the machine or apparatus hereto. annexed.

Figure 1 shows a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan, of a composing apparatus or machine arranged and constructed in accordance with my invention.

The apparatus consists of an inclined plane, a, of polished metal or other suitable material, fixed on the block a of the base 04 At the lower end of the inclined plane a the apparatus for receiving the type, equivalent to a composing-stick, is placed, and at the up per end the various types to be selected or operated upon are placed. The types are arranged in columns or files, resting upon the inclined plane a, being kept in position by a series of open-ended troughs, 1) b standing endwise on the inclined plane a, and at right angles, or thereabout, to its surface. The series of troughs b b are arranged in such positions that the types which they contain are all directedtoward a common center, which is .a few inches from the lower end of the inclined plane a. Each trough b b has an opening at the back, close to the surface of the inclined plane a, through which opening the undermost type of the column is pushed by means of a piston, c, acted upon by a lever, d, each trough b b having its own piston c and lever (1. Attached to each lever 61 is a knob or button, 6 e, on which the operator presses with his fingers to select the particular letter or character required, the levers d al being brought back to their normal positions by the spiral springs f f. The series of the troughs b b are kept in their proper position bybeing inserted into a base-plate, b A series of shal low grooves or channels are formed in the lower side of the base-plate b through which the pistons c 0 work when discharging the types from the troughs b 11 The pistons c c are supported by the inclined plane 66, which is prolonged beyondthe base-plate b for that purpose. A series of guide slots, a are formed in the prolonged part of the inclined plane a, in which the free ends of the levers d d work. A rail, b around the end of the inclined plane a prevents the levers from going beyond the end of the guide-slot a. Each piston c is geared to its lever 01 by means of a pin, d (formed on thefree end of the lever 01,) passing through a hole or eye in the piston c. The levers d al move upon a joint, 61?, on the base a and, instead of leading in a straight line to the ends of the pistons 0, they are shaped in such a manner as to occupy a nearly-horizontal position for some distance from .the joint (F, and then lead to the end of the guide-slots c by several bends, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The buttons or knobs e e are fixed to the horizontal part of the levers d d, so that a vertical pressure on the knobs e e produces a movement of the free ends of the levers cl (1 in a direction nearly parallel to the line in which the pistons c 0 move. The buttons or knobs e e are arranged in three straight lines, the second line of knobs being higher than the first, and the third line higher than the second, as shown in Fig. 1. I

In working the machine'the operator will stand at the end of the machine, so as tohave the selecting-levers d cl in front of him; and, in order that he may have a better view of the lower end of the inclined plane a, the troughs 1), containing those types or characters which are less frequently used, are placed at the left hand of the operator, and are made much shorter than the other troughs b, so that he can easily see over them and have a better view of the receiving apparatus.

The types are guided into the composingstick, arranged in combination with the ma chine or apparatus, by means of two guides, g g, fixed upon the surface of the inclined plane a, so as to form a narrow channel at the lower end, and spreading outwardat the upper end,

so as to embrace the space occupied by the lower ends of the whole series of troughs b b containing the types.

The arrangements for receiving the types as they slide from off the inclined plane a,

consist of a composing-stick, h, in the form of a trough closed at the lower end, and mounted in a position opposite the end of the narrow channel previously mentioned, the

composing-stick h being supported by a race or slide, j, supported at right angles to the surface of the inclined plane a.

The composing-stick h has a downward movement in the race or slide j produced by the depression of the selecting-levers d d acting through the following mechanism, part of which is shown on an enlarged scale in Figs. 3 and 4. is It is a rectangular frame, having a vibratory motion on the pivots l l, which pass through the lower end of the frame It It. The upper side of the frame 70 70 passes under the series of levers d al and is kept close up to them by the spiral spring m. Tdthe lower side of the frame la la a bent arm, n, is fixed, which acts ,as a driver to the ratchet-wheel 0 carried by ,of the types as they occur in their various degrees of frequency-as, for instance, if twelve inches of. a-line of type contain, on an average, one hundred and forty-four types, then the rack and pinion and the ratchet-wheel should be so proportioned to each other that for each movement of the levers cl the composing-stick It should travel one-twelfth part of an inch. But in order that no stoppage or interruption to the working of the machine should occur when the collective thickness of .the series of types forming a word exceeds the average, as already described, a downward movement is communicated to the composingstick h, independently of the action of the levers, d d, by means of the arm '8 on the axis .1? being pressed down upon the uppermost type of the column in the composing=stick h, and pushing the column along, with the comiposingstick h downward, until the top of the column is at the proper height.

The mechanism for producing this movement of the arm s consists of a curved arm, it, also fixed to the axis t, from which curved arm a a cord, to, leads over the pulley o to the shorter arm 20 of the lever working on the axis or. The depression of thelonger arm to of the lever pulls the cord to and depresses the arm 5. A spiral spring 3 is connected to the curved arm a, and brings the arm 8 back to its normal position.

In order that there may be'no loss of time in working this supplementary apparatus, it is made to act in conjunction with the lever al which belongs to the trough b, in which the spaces or blanks which are used to separate the words from each other are arranged. The arrangement for effecting this joint movement consists ofa forked lever, Z 2 (Fig. 5,) working on pivots 2 near the axis 01 or joint of the levers d d, one limb, z of the fork bearing upon a stud, z-", in the lever (1 The other limb, z of the forked lever terminates in a broad plate, 2 and rests on the end of the leverarm w. The depression of the plate 2 depresses the lever al and thereby discharges a spacing-type into the composingstick h. At the same time the lever w is also depressed, and, acting by the cord it, brings the arm 8 to bear upon the types in the composing-stick h, if the column of composed types should at that moment be higher than the proper height.

When capitals, italics, or other types than those in the machine occur in the copy the operator selects them by hand from ordinary type-cases placed adjacent to the machine, and lays them on the surface of the inclined plane a, with a slight impetus downward, so as to glide into the composing'stick h. A downward movement of the composing-stick h should then be made, either by depressing the rectangular frame 70 k, or by making a movement of the arm w of the supplementary apparatus independently of the forked lever z 2 Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The composing-stick h, arranged within the fixed race j at right angles to an inclined plane, 00, and having the rack q on its edge, in combination with the ratchet-wheel 0, pinion p, rectangular frame 70 70, having the bent end a and pawl k, and the pivoted levers d al for vibrating the frame 70 k in order to operate the ratchet wheel and impart a downward movement to the composing-stick,

substantially as herein set forth and illustrated.

2. In combination with the pivoted. lever for discharging the types, the pivoted forked lever 2 z lever w w, cord to, arm 8, and comsisting of the pivoted arm 8, the cord u, pulposing-stiek It, substantially as and for the ley 42, and the pivoted lever w w, substantialpurpose herein set forth-and shown. 1y as herein specified.

3. The trough-shaped composing-stick h ADAM MILLAB. arranged at right angles to the inclined plane Witnesses: at the lower end thereof, in combination with JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, the supplementary apparatus for moving the 34 Southampton Buildings, London, W. 0'. stick downward, independently of the le- JOHN DEANE,

vers for discharging the types, the same con- 17 Gracechurclt street, London, 1 7.0. 

